The Church of St. Columba, located at Gull Lake in Minnesota Territory,
was built for use by the Chippewa tribe in 1852 by the Protestant
Episcopal church. It was built at the request of the Reverend John
Johnson, an Ottawa who had been raised among the C hippewas. Johnson had
been a Methodist minister, preaching to the Chippewas of the northern
Mississippi in 1839. By 1859, he had become an Episcopal minister, and was
placed in charge of the Gull Lake Church. This church was the first
Episcopal church for Indians west of the Mississippi.